You are here

News

Despite being easily preventable and treatable, pneumonia kills more children under the age of five than any other disease, claiming a life every 20 seconds worldwide. In order to raise awareness of the importance of providing vaccines and antibiotics for children, November 12 has been declared World Pneumonia Day.

OPENPediatrics has partnered with the Pneumonia Innovations Team, a global community network that focuses efforts on increasing awareness and mobilizing resources to combat childhood pneumonia, to bring you The Pneumonia Innovations Team Health Kit. Included in this kit are videos, such as the one featured below, and flyers presenting information on recognizing the signs of, and treating pneumonia.

Since 1980 diabetes has nearly doubled worldwide, with an annual estimate of 422 million people living with this disease. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has declared November 14 as World Diabetes Day "with the aim to promote the importance of taking coordinated and concerted actions to confront diabetes as a critical global health issue." The IDF has estimated that globally as many as 193 million people living with diabetes in 2015 were unaware of their disease.

With the theme for 2016 being "Eyes on Diabetes," the International Diabetes Federation aims to spread two key messages:

In November of 1983, President Ronald Reagan declared the last full week of September (since moved to the last full week of October) to be National Respiratory Therapy Week, stating, "In recognition that chronic lung diseases are an important cause of death, ill health, and disability and that respiratory therapy can do much to lessen their effects."

World Polio Day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Use of this inactivated poliovirus vaccine and subsequent widespread use of the oral poliovirus, developed by Albert Sabin, led to the establishment of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988. As of 2013, GPEI had reduced polio worldwide by 99%.

As a reminder of the impact of polio prior to the development of the vaccine, OPENPediatrics is featuring our Iron Lung video, which shares the history of the fight against this disease through a demonstration of the use of an iron lung that has been restored by Boston Children's Hospital.

This week is International Infection Prevention Week. In recognition of this event, we are highlighting our Hand Hygiene video, by Debra Morrow RN, BSN, CCRN.

The number one intervention for preventing the spread of infectious agents in healthcare settings is careful hand hygiene by doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. It is estimated that 80% of the transmission of infectious agents in the healthcare setting is by the hands of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. This video provides some of the research regarding hand hygiene, covers best practices in hand hygiene, and provides strategies to improve hand hygiene compliance.

We’ve entered the MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition for a $100 million grant to address the global challenge of pediatric mortality. More than any other single cause, children around the world die because their caregivers lack access to the best information on how to provide treatment. From bubble CPAP to peritoneal dialysis to oral rehydration therapy, many therapies exist that do not require sophisticated equipment or advanced resources, but simply the knowledge of how to provide them correctly. With the help of the MacArthur Foundation, we can close the global knowledge gap and ensure all children receive the best possible care.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), injury kills more people every year than HIV, TB and malaria combined, and the overwhelming majority of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Timely emergency care saves lives: if fatality rates from severe injury were the same in low- and middle-resource countries as in high-resource countries, nearly 2 million lives could be saved every year. In recognition of World Trauma Day, OPENPediatrics presents a collection of trauma resources from our library, including Initial Trauma Evaluation, by Dr. David Mooney.

In addition to Dr. Mooney's video, the following trauma resources are also available on OPENPediatrics:

OPENPediatrics is pleased to announce the launch of our latest curriculum, Introduction to Pediatric Cardiac Disease. Pediatric congenital heart disease accounts for nearly one-third of all major congenital anomalies worldwide and as such, it is important for healthcare providers in resource-limited settings to understand how to manage children with congenital heart disease and identify when referral to more specialized care is required.